Royal Dutch Shell PLC is to fund a project that aims to produce transport fuel from algae. The Anglo-Dutch oil company said that it would build a pilot facility in Hawaii, in partnership with Hawaii-based HR Biopetroleum Inc.
Algae still hasn’t been proved as an economic proposition, although a number of other companies, including Massachussets-based Greenfuel Technologies Corp., are also conducting research into it.
In the late 1980s, the U.S. government-funded National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researched the use of algae to produce biodiesel. However, in the mid 1990s, the Department of Energy cut funding to the research, choosing to focus on ethanol, which is produced from crops such as corn or cane. In October 2007, NREL announced it was to collaborate with Chevron Corp. on algae research.
Source: WSJ, 12/12/07
